Tim Banks is the CEO of APM, a Canada wide construction and property development company, with its head office in Charlottetown, PEI. My family has lived on PEI for over eight generations and I was born at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside, PEI. I am hoping someone will soon develop a blood test to authenticate when you actually become an "Islander" as I am still having problems explaining where I'm from?

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Tim Banks says "The sky is Falling.... hard to believe that my kids will finally be able to legally sit an empty can on our driveway and squash it with their foot and leave it behind for someone to pick up.... I was thinking if they didn't soon get to do that they may have "crush can syndrome"... forget the environment and think of all the heath care benefits!!!The wait is overJIM DAYThe GuardianPsssssssst.Islanders will be enjoying that sound today as tabs pop open on a number of carbonated beverages purchased on P.E.I. for the first time in decades.Canned pop will be sold here today for the first time since March 1, 1984. And beer can be bought in cans after 35 years of being sold on the Island in bottles only.That well-worn Island tradition of stocking up with canned beer and canned pop on the drive home from the mainland will finally grind to a halt. Sales of canned pop at Allen’s Petro-Can & Grocery in Timber River, N.B., long the last stop for many homebound Island motorists before hitting Confederation Bridge, are bound to plummet.Consumer demand finally forced the government’s hand. The ban on the sale of carbonated beverages in non-refillable containers is officially lifted as of today.A survey conducted for Coca-Cola in 2002 said 70 per cent of Islanders would support change to allow the sale of carbonated beverages in aluminum cans and plastic bottles.While consumers benefit with the convenience of being able to make purchases at local stores rather than during a trip across the Northumberland Strait, the provincial government will be the big fiscal benefactor of the Beverage Container Act introduced in the legislature last week.A study way back in 1998, conducted by UPEI, suggested P.E.I. loses more than $4 million annually because of the ban on canned pop alone.Pepsi and Coca-Cola have been moving fast and furious to stock Island shelves with their products as consumers are expected to flood stores across the province looking for their favourite carbonated beverages now packaged here in cans and plastic.“We’ve been working round the clock to support retailers across P.E.I.,’’ said Steve Chiasson of Pepsi Bottling Group.“We expect to have good product distribution across the Island by (today) when stores open.’’Jeff Brown, general manager for the Maritimes with Coca-Cola Bottling Company, says close to 70 sales people, drivers and merchandisers are in P.E.I. this week looking after the logistics of the major shift.“It’s a big deal. It’s a lot of work with the customers,’’ said Brown. “We think it will take three or four weeks to get everything done to adjust our customers coolers and make everything available.’’Brown estimates the canned Coca Cola products will take one to two weeks to get into all of the Island stores seeking to sell them.“It’s our goal to get to as many places as we can,’’ he said. “We are working feverishly through the night.’’Red Bull was busy marketing their product on the Island Friday by handing out free samples of the energy drink in cans.“Starting Saturday, Islanders wanting to purchase Red Bull should be able to find it in almost all grocery and convenience stores, as well as their favourite restaurants and bars,’’ said a spokesperson with the company.